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Eurasian Collared Dove

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Birds

             iEurasian Collared Dove

                             Conservation status

   Least Concern (LC)
            Scientific classification

   Kingdom: Animalia
   Phylum:  Chordata
   Class:   Aves
   Order:   Columbiformes
   Family:  Columbidae
   Genus:   Streptopelia
   Species: S. decaocto

                                Binomial name

   Streptopelia decaocto
   ( Frivaldszky, 1838)

   The Eurasian Collared Dove, Streptopelia decaocto, also called the
   Eurasian Collared-Dove or simply the Collared Dove, is one of the great
   colonisers of the avian world. Its original range was warmer temperate
   regions from southeastern Europe to Japan. However, in the twentieth
   century it expanded across the rest of Europe, reaching as far west as
   Great Britain by 1953, and Ireland soon after. It also now breeds north
   of the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia. It is not migratory.

   It was introduced into the Bahamas in the 1970s and spread to Florida
   by 1982. Its stronghold in North America is still the Gulf Coast, but
   it is now found as far south as Veracruz, as far west as California,
   and as far north as British Columbia and the Great Lakes. Its impact on
   native species is as yet unknown; it appears to occupy an ecological
   niche between that of the Mourning dove and Rock pigeon; some have
   suggested that its spread represents exploitation of a niche made
   available by the extinction of the Passenger pigeon.

   It breeds wherever there are trees for nesting, laying two white eggs
   in a stick nest. Incubation lasts 14-18 days, and young fledge after
   15-19 days. It is not wary and is often found around human habitation.

   This is a small dove, buff grey with a darker back and a blue-grey wing
   patch. The tail feathers are tipped white. It has a black half-collar
   on its nape from which it gets its name. The short legs are red and the
   bill is black. The eye is reddish brown. From a distance the eyes
   appear to be black, as the pupil is relatively large and only a narrow
   rim of reddish-brown eye colour can be seen around the black pupil
   (click on photo to see features in detail).

   This is a gregarious species, and sizeable winter flocks will form
   where there are food supplies such as grain. The song is a coocoo, coo
   repeated many times. It is phonetically similar to the Greek decaocto
   ('eighteen'), to which the bird owes its name. Occasionally it also
   makes a harsh loud mechanical-sounding call lasting about 2 seconds,
   particularly when landing in the summer.

   The Eurasian Collared Dove is one of two species (the other, and the
   more likely, being the African Collared Dove, Streptopelia roseogrisea)
   that have been argued to be the wild ancestor of the domestic Barbary
   Dove, S. risoria. It is able to interbreed with the Barbary Dove.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Collared_Dove"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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